My thoughts on the Cutlass & StingRay

[PeteDuBaldo]

We had more arrive today for inventory so I took the time to get to know them a bit.

Both guitars were comfortable out of the gate, and the new tremolo design made my right hand feel like I was at home playing a JP.

Cutlass - Vintage Turquoise, strung with M-Steel 9-42
7lb 4oz

Very cool guitar, nice tonal balance and not overly bright like so many other SSS guitars out there. Positions 2 and 4 had me comping some SRV licks, and there was a nice amount of low-end in position 4.

Fantastic upper fret access! Both sides of the body/neck joint are trimmed down around the neck heel and serial plate. Another neat feature was that the side marker dots on the rosewood board are tinted to match the maple neck.

Great for chicken pickin and those classic single coil sounds without the noise!


StingRay - Vintage Tobacco, strung with RPS 10-46
7lb 8oz

Again, fantastic upper fret access for the reasons above. The toggle on the upper horn was nicely positioned and didn't feel awkward, it was quite easy for me to get used to.

The overtones jump out of this guitar, and while it is not as aggressive sounding as some of the other models it flat out sounds alive. Chords come through evenly voiced, and when you crank up the gain they don't get muddy. The bridge pickup easily generates harmonics without sounding too bright.

The neck humbucker really stunned me, as I typically don't like most neck position sounds - I fell in love with this one! Nice and smooth sound without losing any highs, and the ability to get "fat" sounds by tweaking the tone and volume a bit.

 

[Johnny Alien]

Ugggh. I was hoping you were going to be talking about my StingRay coming in! I can't wait! They look great. Thanks for the review.

 

[Sweat]

Nice guitars Pete and nice review, while my playing skills are not at your level, I agree with the assessment!

Love these guitars

 

[kimonostereo]

Can't wait! Can't wait! Monday can't come soon enough!!

 

[mikeller]

Pete are all the Cutlass coming with MSteels? The MM website says RPS 9s. Mine sound very lively

 

[guitarheadhunt]

I was wondering if you could tell me about the neck profile. I have played the new stingray but not the silhouette. I am on the fence about my next guitar purchase. I really like the Stingray in black but I have been wanting a silhouette standard for a while now. The problem is over the last several years I have been waiting for someone to get silo in locally.
My question is how do the necks compare. Are they the same profile. Like I said I know what the new stingray feels like. I am wondering how the silo feels in comparison.

Thanks for your time.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Pete are all the Cutlass coming with MSteels? The MM website says RPS 9s. Mine sound very lively

Per AJ "yes" - it was a last-minute decision to ship them with MSteel strings.



As far as the neck profile goes, I'll wait for EB to comment as to how the two compare.

 

[mikeller]

Thanks Pete the Music-Man website has been updated now too!!

 

[TripHazard]

Pete, looking at your pix, the stingray burst looks much more yellow than the pix on the music man site. Is it a trick of the light or is that your read too. I personally prefer the black yellow look over the more orangey colour on the site

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Pete, looking at your pix, the stingray burst looks much more yellow than the pix on the music man site. Is it a trick of the light or is that your read too. I personally prefer the black yellow look over the more orangey colour on the site

It's more a combination of lighting and the way the camera interpreted the color. In person the StingRay looks slightly lighter than the than the MM photos do (on this particular computer), but definitely has a very golden/amber look to it. Keep in mind that every piece of wood will be slightly different in the way that it accepts the stain. I'll take some more photos this afternoon to get a more accurate shot.